So I have finally gotten round to giving you all an update on our adventures!! We headed off in our Renault Clio around the Ireland on 28th April ... this is what went down .... Day 1 We headed 10 mins north of Dublin up to Malahide to check out the castle, we had a guided tour through the the oldest family owned castle in Ireland before jumping in the car and heading south along the coast, we drove through Bray, a lovely seaside village and stopped for lunch before carrying on to Kilkenny National Park and then to Powerscourt Waterfalls. Our first night was spent in Kilkenny, well just outside the city in a 15th Century castle which is supposed to be haunted ... we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves as it was Monday night but the castle was lovely .. had a grand old dining hall, a massive kitchen with an old stove oven and the tower, where we stayed was a little creepy, adding to the charm :-) Day 2 Up early as there was a lot of driving to get through today ... did I mention that I had to do all the driving?! It would have been too expensive to have the boys drive too!! Anyway, we headed south again to Dunmore caves which was pretty cool ... just a massive hole in the ground which keeps getting deeper and deeper ... very scary being that far underground. We ran out of time to do our half day fishing trip in Kilmore Quay so we skipped straight to Cork City and found our hostel there. Cork was wonderful! We spent 2 nights here and the apart from getting our ID checked and being refused entry to a few places, we did have a great time! While we were in Cork, we drove to Fota Island Wildlife Park and witness some very interesting wildlife behaviour ... the Ostrich dance was the best!! I even got to pet a Kangaroo! Who'd a thought this far from Australia I would even get to see one!! We also took a drive through Kinsale and Clonakilty, lovely little coastal fishing towns. Day 4 First thing we were up to do our tour of Blarney Castle and of course to kiss the Blarney Stone ... the castle and gardens were absolutely amazing but I am sorry to say I didn't kiss the stone! The boys did but there was no way I was hanging backwards from a tall tower to kiss a germy stone ... I already have the gift of eloquence anyway .... ha ha ha!! Once we had conquered the castle it was off to Killarney to begin the Ring of Kerry, by far the best (but hardest) drive I have ever done!! Words or even photos can't justify the magnificent scenery around County Kerry! The roads are crazy narrow winding footpaths almost! It's pretty damn scary when a bus comes round the corner, there is a sheep to your left and you are wondering how on earth you are going to get past without falling off the edge! But like I said the scenery was amazing and was definitely worth the drive. We finished the Ring of Kerry around 6 and heading to Annascaul (Dingle) to party at the Randy Leprechaun (hostel). I picked this hostel as I knew the Paddywagon tour came through here and I imagined the boys would need a bit of Aussie atmosphere given that they would have had to take in a lot by now so conveniently for us, the pub was right next door where we drank away till the wee hours of the morning. Day 5 Another massive day of driving today! We headed inland and drove through Tralee, Adare and Limerick (stab city) without stopping to head to the Cliffs of Moher. We were pretty surprised that we didn't have to pay to see the Cliffs (they charge whatever they can for every other site in Ireland) only to be slapped with an 8 euro parking fare ... typical! The cliffs were amazing though! We walked up one side and could see all the little caves in the side of the cliffs. There were buskers on the way up including a harpist ... despite Ireland's affiliation with the Harp .. this was the only person I have ever seen playing it! It was very beautiful music! Once the cliffs were done, we got back in the car and headed through "the Burren" a large mass of land covered in limestone! It is absolutely amazing to go from rolling green hills to mountains and plains covered in rock!! The Burren goes on for about 20 miles and then we hit the border of my favourite Irish city ... Galway! We stayed at a hostel on the main street and met an Australian busker who told us the best places to go. We headed first to the Crane, a great little live music venue. On this night they had a jazz and blues band. Was a lovely little venue but there were just too many people so we headed across the road from our hostel to a place called the Kings Head where a rock band was playing. They were absolutely amazing! They were playing everything from Pink Floyd to Red Hot Chilli Peppers and my favourite ... Galway Girl, doing it all so well! The Kings Head was closing so we headed to our final venue of the night, the Living Room. Another top pub/Club where we drank our final Galwegian pints and played some Foosball. Day 6 It was a panic to find a hostel this morning! I had left my phone in the hostel room and had subsequently been stolen! It was a bank holiday weekend and therefore every coastal town in Galway had sold out of accommodation. We had the receptionist at the hostel call around and find anywhere that a had a vacancy for 3 people. We ended up staying in Clifden because nowhere else was available!! So off we headed to a little town for a relatively quiet night. Day 7 Because our plans were all messed up we ended up spending a night in Sligo, we met an Aussie in the hostel, Lu, had some drinks and went out on the town. Sligo was a cool little city with restaurants and pubs lining the river. We asked some locals where to go and headed out for a big ball of fun ... before long the night was over and it was time to get a cab home but not before a dodgy kebab! We went into one place where there was no seating but just drunk ppl sitting on the floor eating their greaseballs! While I was waiting for Nathan I saw a massive fight erupt ... 2 guys got the absolute s***e beaten out of them ... I grabbed the boys, got in a taxi and fled ... Sligo didn't really leave a good impression on me! Day 8 We all left early in the morning, we gave Lu a lift to the Strand (I think?!), what is meant to be a great surfing beach in Ireland. The beach itself was nice but I don't think the 'surfers' were too impressed! There was about 10 of them sitting on their boards waiting for waves and for the 10 mins we were there, I didn't see one of them catch a wave! Back in the car and up along the coast to Donegal. We found a cool little hostel with great craic just out of town, the owner was from Cork (who are known to be quirky) and she really was just hilarious! We dumped our stuff then headed west along the coast to Slieve League ... the biggest (but less famous) cliffs in Europe. The top of the cliffs reach over 600m and are pretty damn spectacular!! We climbed to the top of the mountain and could see 180 degree views of the Irish coast meeting the Atlantic ocean, was absolutely amazing!! We found a lovely little waterfall on the way back and stopped to bask in the sun and have our lunch before driving back to Donegal where we had another quiet night in. Day 9 We crossed over into Northern Ireland today to check out Derry (aka Londonderry). I love this city for its history, I don't think the boys were too impressed by the locals ... we stood out like a sore thumb and copped a few funny looks. We walked on the walls, saw the murals and the memorials then headed up to Portstewart for our second last night. We found an amazing hostel pretty much on the beach, dumped our stuff and headed for the Giant's Causeway, as the sun doesn't set until 10pm, we thought we would head out around 7pm for a nice dusk shot, the Causeway was amazing (again) and after an hour or so, we headed back to Portstewart. We met a Scottish fella, John and went drinking at one of the pubs on the high street with him. John was cycling around Ireland to see all of it's castles ... I was knackered from doing it by car ... dunno how he coped!! Anyway, after the pubs had shut we headed back to the hostel, kept drinking and played pictionary until the wee hours of the morning. I had to head to bed being the driver but the boys crept in just after the sun started to rise :-) Day 10 We took the coastal route to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge which the boys both did ... I figured I had already done it once, I don't need to do it again ... he he he. Then it was over to Belfast for our last night of the journey. Belfast was amazing, we did the Black Taxi Tour (which I had already done) but this time we had a Protestant driver so was interesting to hear the history from both sides. The boys seem to enjoy their little historical tour and we headed back to the hostel to get ready and head out for a few pints. We were all getting sick by this stage so we stopped for 1 at a heavy metal bar then just had a few at a place called the Empire, an amazing music venue ... there was a 2 piece band and the singer had a wonderful voice but the venue was pretty dead. Back to the hostel for a good night sleep before our drive back to Dublin. Day 11 We checked out of our hostel pretty early and drove straight through Antrim and back down to Dublin. We wanted to get there relatively early so we could do the Guinness Storehouse tour which proved to be worth it. It showed us the history of the beer, how it is made and gave us a few free pints at the end of it in it's gravity bar, right up the top of the brewery, giving you a 360 degree view of Dublin ... gotta say though, I have tasted better Guinness at the pubs around Ireland than I did at the brewery .... bizarre! Once we had done that Mike took us out for a final night of boozing in Dublin. We were meant to be home around 12 but I think it was more like 3?! Because of our late night and unexpected delays returning our hire car and finding the check in gate!! We missed our flight and had to fork out €600 in order to get new tickets to London, only to find out that our original plane had not even arrived at the airport! Grr!! Anyway, we are here now and I am loving being back in London! We have had amazing weather and I even got burnt from lying in the grass of our new backyard!! There are 7 of us living here in Acton Town and is such a sociable house ... I love it!! I have also realised re-reading this that our Irish adventures are gong to sound like a bunch of gobbledyf*****! You really have to get out and experience it! I will put my photos up in the next few days so you will have some idea what I am talking about but like I said, photos just don't do it justice!! I hope ye are all well!! Love to everyone! xoxxox